Bakura Uzamaki
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: Why have the rash of unexplained murders gone up in Konoha? Yami Bakura was sealed inside a certain blonde, hyperactive ninja in training. How will things turn out with a 5,000 year old thief around? Bakura/Anko Ryou/Marik
1. Chapter 1

Naruto was bored...his only source of amusement, a spirit named Bakura, was gone. Sure the guy was borderline psychotic, bloodthirsty and downright rude most days...but he was fun! Bakura was the only one Naruto knew who would teach him stuff without old man Hokage forcing them to. Naruto didn't know what all 'Shadow Magic' could do, but it did make him a better ninja, so he wasn't complaining.

Naruto met Bakura when he was three. And to hear a voice that snarky at that age surprised him. Still, Bakura did the one thing no one else had done ever.

He encouraged him. And he actually liked Naruto, which was by far different to the villagers.

So what if the rash of unexplained murders went up since he appeared?

By age eight, Naruto was considered a natural conduit for the shadows...to Bakura's shock and delight. The rash of murders started to go down. Bakura taught Naruto all sorts of tricks which he applied at school. And shocked the hell out of his biased teachers. Where Naruto failed at scholarly things like tests, he excelled in the practicals.

Which is probably why the kid named Sasuke looked at him like a rival. Personally Naruto shrugged it all off, concentrating on his lessons with Bakura. Who liked to talk about what he did before he was stuck in Naruto.

(And just to clarify, Bakura is _NOT_ the Kyuubi. He came after.)

So Bakura liked to kill people who hurt him and got away with it. And complained about someone called the Pharoah. He liked to help Naruto prank people!

* * *

Naruto age nine. Place, Hokage Monument with a three cans of paint, red, orange and black. Mission: paint heiroglyphics on the monument and escape Iruka.

Mission accepted.

(Naruto was later captured and made to clean up the insults he painted in Ancient Egyptian by Iruka. Bakura was a tad annoyed, but did nothing.)

What did Naruto paint in a language he only understood thanks to a certain tomb robber?

****Insults painted****

**Yami Yugi is a dumbass. Zorc is a pathetic NOOB. The Hokage is a total Pervert **(this was accidentally written in Kanji, which is was why Iruka was angrier than usual).

**The Kyuubi will have your soul. Bakura and Naruto RULE!**

Bakura walked through the sewer like corridor to the gilded cage that held the nine tailed fox. Why you ask? And how did he know of the fox?

Let's just say the fox impressed the tomb robber with the number of swear words it knew and leave it at that.

It was the weekly rant session between the two. You read that right. Bakura and Kyuubi liked to rant. It had started by accident after Bakura heard the fox angrily yelling about the one who put him in the cage in the first place, how he would like to rip his descendant/jailor a new one, and would like nothing more than to see someplace OTHER than a damn sewer.

Needless to say, Bakura's interest was perked, as some of the methods the guy described seemed particularly bloody, and he was bored. So imagine his surprise when he found out it was an enormous pissed off fox with nine tails and red eyes.

The fox took one suspicious look at him before the thief asked, "How exactly would you pull the brain out from this...Yondaime's ass?"

Kyuubi snorted.

**_"Anything is possible once you smash enough bones."_**

Bakura's grin made the demon's day.

"Bakura, five thousand year old thief king and all around bloodthirsty bastard."

_**"Kyuubi no Yoko, strongest of the Bijuu and bane to Konoha ninja."**_

They nodded in acknoledgement, and an unholy friendship was born between a psychotic thief and pissed off nine tailed demon fox. It helped that Bakura could talk to the kid since he wasn't sealed in him by blood and soul. As such, Naruto finally met the one he was holding in his body. It was an interesting meeting.

* * *

(Naruto, age seven after just starting in the academy)

'Bakura-nii, who were you talking to?'

_'My new ranting buddy, Kyuubi.'_

'KYUUBI?'

_'Wait until we get home and you've eaten something. I'll introduce you.'_

Naruto stopped at Ichiraku Ramen, ate his usual ten bowls, and left. Sitting in a comfortable position against the headboard on his bed, he meditated like Bakura showed him. And was immedaitely drawn into a sewer.

Which is how he finally found out what his beloved Bakura-nii looked like. Tan with a scar on his left eye, stark white hair and red brown eyes that held a bloodthirsty look. They vaguely reminded him of a Chuunin he saw eating Dango once. Man that chick was scary. (Anko)

He was also taller than Old man Hokage.

"Naruto! Bout time you showed up, gaki."

"Bakura-nii? You look weird."

"So do you. I did tell you I wasn't from here didn't I?"

"Ya, ya. So is Kyuubi really...?"

"I think this is the reason everyone treats you like trash. I've walked around in spirit form and overheard the adults talking about some law, which is probably why you didn't know about it."

"Why is this place a sewer?"

"Beats me. Come on, time for you to meet Kyuubi."

The fox wasn't happy, but it was still his day to rant about the fourth Hokage. Bakura cheerfully said he had put into practice some of the things Kyuubi described, which calmed the fox down enough to speak to Naruto without wanting to rip the boy's head off.

Once he finally got to know the fox (which he figured was a bigger version of his favorite brother Bakura) he got along fine with it. He couldn't talk to it without Bakura's help, but still, they reached an understanding. In fact it was Kyuubi who suggested skipping the clone jutsu and going straight to shadow clones.

Bakura was the one to take over, with Naruto's permission, and he snuck into Hokage tower to steal a forbidden scroll. Which was later returned exactly where he found it before the old man knew it was gone.

* * *

The old Hokage had no idea that now there was a second copy of the scroll in the hands of the by now notorious murderer who had been stalking the streets of Konoha for the past six years. The only problem with the case was that he changed his M.O. every time he killed, and no one could ever see him.

Many suspected Naruto, so he had ANBU positioned everywhere they could see the boy. And they reported something that threw all suspicion off the Kyuubi container.

Naruto was with an older boy with white hair and a tan each time the killings happened. They had no idea who the boy was, but the way Naruto acted clearly said he was practically family to the orphaned child.

The one time he confronted Naruto about the boy, he lit up and said "Bakura-nii is awesome! He's been teaching me how to be a better ninja!"

As far as he knew there were no Ninja on the payroll by the name of Bakura. Or had hair that white. The Hatake clan had silver hair, but not bone white.

Naruto described Bakura, and he shuddered. The lad sounded too much like a male version of Anko for his liking. Still, if he existed...he would surely peak Ibiki's interest. Until Naruto mentioned that Bakura had a friend named Kyuubi who looked like a huge fox with nine tails.

He sputtered a bit, and looked at Naruto in shock.

"He's friends with the _Kyuubi?_"

"Yeah, they listen to each other rant about people they hate. Bakura-nii doesn't like this guy who goes by either Pharoah or Yami Yugi, and Kyuubi hates the fourth. Still, they've been teaching me stealth and how to throw properly!"

The Hokage just stared. The Kyuubi...was teaching his container how to be a proper ninja. So he decided he had to meet this Bakura.

"Naruto, do you know how I can get ahold of this...Bakura?"

"Hang on and I'll go get him!"

He heard a vague poof, and Naruto brought out the same boy the ANBU reported. Who definitely reminded the old man of Anko, only without the snake obsession. His eyes were just as bloodthirsty as some Mist nin, but they also held a genuine concern for Naruto.

"Bakura. You must be Oji-san that the runt talks about."

"I don't believe we've ever met."

"You haven't. I mostly hang out with Naruto when he's bored. I've seen you off and on for about seven years now."

Which makes his arrival just barely coincide with the murders. Still, the man moved like a trianed shinobi...but he wore no headband.

"I'm not a shinobi, though it is pretty close to what I used to do. Professional thief."

"Nii-chan needs my help to remember jutsu! He can do some genjutsu but no ninjutsu," chirped Naruto.

"Would you be interested in becoming a shinobi then?"

Bakura gave him a grin. So he was interested. The Hokage set him up with Iruka for a bit, and was surprised that by the end of the month the boy had already become a genin. According to the scarred instructor, Bakura was a very quick learner, who only needed help with the basics of Chakra and control. His taijutsu was perfect, his genjutsu was disturbing but passable. His main problem was mostly Ninjutsu.

Naruto was thrilled, since it meant that Bakura would help him in areas he was still struggling with. The elders still weren't happy about the boy taking up Naruto's last name and unofficially becoming his older brother.

* * *

Then something odd happened right on Naruto's eleventh birthday. Only it happened to Bakura, and not him.

**I see you are fitting in well here, Tomb Robber Bakura.**

Bakura jolted up. He'd recognize the voice of Ra anywhere.

"What do you want? I don't want to pass on just yet. The kid needs me."

You heard right. Bakura cared about Naruto, who unlike Ryou actually encouraged the thief and his ways. In his words "I don't give a damn if you kill people. Just don't let them trace it back to me."

**You are doing far better than the Pharoah is at this point...which surprised us more than we would like to admit.**

Bakura growled.

"That damn idiot is here too? Who else did you bring? Marik?"

A silence filled the air. He groaned.

"You let Marik loose with me and the Pharoah...can you at least tell me who you stuck him with before he breaks loose on his own or drives someone to a killing spree?"

**We let him go inside a boy named Itachi Uchiha.**

"ITACHI? Are you bloody serious? He killed off his entire clan except for his brother!"

**He seemed like a good candidate at the time...**

Bakura snorted.

"So what do you lot want anyway?"

**To give you your own body. Unlike the Pharoah, you have worked to change even if you deny it. And you have been getting along with your new hikari better than the others have.**

"Wait...you mean the Pharoah hasn't gotten used to not having his bloody puzzle anymore? What has he done?"

**He has almost driven his new hikari insane, despite the fact that the child cannot sleep without worrying about his demon taking over.**

Bakura cackled. And they called him annoying! At least he knocked out his hikari before taking over! The Pharoah was too used to getting his way!

"What are the conditions?"

**We don't want more blood on our souls. Get the Pharoah to tone it down for us, and you may keep the body we give you.**

All he had to do was beat the Pharoah? Who didn't have the gods on his side? He was so there!

"Deal!"

**The Pharoah is in the Sand Village, inside a child called Gaara no Sabaku.**

* * *

Bakura had already gotten a field promotion to Chunin a week ago, and he looked at the rouster for a mission to Sand. There was one left, and someone clearly was debating on whether he should take it or not.

"So you want to run through that heat and slip in boiling hot sand with little to no water for three days?" he said loud enough for the other man to hear.

The man winced, and Bakura looked over the mission. Standard supply run for Sand, trading medical ingredients. Shouldn't take longer than a week, if that. And best of all it was a C rank mission.

"How about you take the one to Grass and I do Sand? Either way you escape the village for a bit."

"Are you sure Bakura? This would be your first out of village assignment," said Iruka.

"Let's see, the only choice is the endless chore that is D rank, or a mildly interested C rank to someplace I could tolerate. Give me the Sand run. Shouldn't be a week if that."

He let Naruto know the real reason he took the Sand mission, and the boy tackled him with a hug.

Bakura hugged the boy back, and whispered to him, "Make a list of any bastards who bug you and We'll take care of them when we get back. No Shadows until I do."

"I know Nii-chan. Shadows are dangerous without you to keep them in check. Can I still summon Foxfire though?"

"As long as no one sees him or Kuriboh, there shouldn't be any problem."

Naruto cheered and gave his brother a new Fuuma Shuriken as a going away present. Bakura walked out of the village, smirking like a devil incarnate.

* * *

He arrived in the Sand village the next day, courtosy of Shadow Travel. It shocked the hell out of the guards, until he showed his pass and the box full of Leaf Village medicinal plants. He was given the next two days to wander, and his magic immedaitely sought out someone with the same power.

He found it the next morning, and his eyes narrowed. This Gaara kid was like Naruto in so many ways...only when he got the spirit, it never bothered to put the kid first like he had, once he realized the situation.

Gaara was alone with a small teddy bear, and had a tattoo with the kanji for love on it. Bakura walked up to him, noticed that everyone stayed far, far away from him once he entered what he assumed was a kill zone, and said "My name is Bakura. What's yours kid?"

The cold green eyes glared at him, then took in the Leaf headband. He was obviously surprised that the heat wasn't bothering the foreigner in the least...and that he was talking to him.

"Sabaku no Gaara."

Gaara winced, as if he heard something start shrieking right in his ears. Bakura scowled.

"Quick question. Can you make a solid clone?"

Gaara gave him a look, as if to say, "Why the hell do you want to know that?"

"If you can, I reccommend making a solid clone and punting his royal pain in the ass into it. He can possess it, and you can finally ditch him."

Gaara's eyes widened. How the hell did he know about...him?

Bakura gave a dark grin, "Me and the idiot go way back. I was sent here to shut him up for a while."

Gaara was relieved.

"I have no idea who the hell this Yugi guy was, but he must have the patience of a Buddha to put up with him."

"That kid was so damn meek he practically gave into whatever the Pharoah asked him. Hence why he had a big head."

Bakura looked away as Gaara went through the signs for a solid clone, forced the other spirit to possess the clone, and watched as the one he had a major problem with came through.

"Hello Pharoah. The gods aren't happy with you right now."

_"Thief!"_ Atem growled. He still hated Bakura.

"In fact they sent me my own body in order to get you to leave the poor kid stuck with you alone."

_"You're lying!"_

Bakura turned to a now relieved Gaara, and smirked.

"You know how when a clone disappates you get all the info it gathered? That doesn't happen when someone with shadow magic possesses it. Feel free to deck this idiot."

With a fanatical gleam in his eyes, Gaara drew up a chakra enhanced punch and clocked the former pharoah. He then turned to Bakura, happier than he had been since the spirit had shown up.

"Thank you!"

"I've been wanting to shut that idiot up for years. The fact that the gods themselves sent me my own body to do it was just icing on the cake."

Atem was in shock, since he was clearly feeling the effects of the punch. Bakura had a maniacal gleam as he gleefully informed the spirit, "Oh, and by the way, Marik is here too in the body of an S class rogue named Itachi."

Gaara obviously recognized the name, then he turned to the pharoah.

* * *

Bakura left the village in a very good mood after assisting Gaara in beating the crap out of Atem. At least now the poor kid could shut the idiot up.

He was promptly glomped by Naruto once he safely brought the plants to the Yamanaka clan. Bakura laughed, and hugged the blond boy back.

Naruto went a mile a minute talking about how much mischief he had gotten into with Foxfire and Kuriboh, and Bakura actually listened to the boy.

He loved the fact that Naruto used Kuriboh's tendancy to explode to cause damage to the grocery that always refused to sell him any food that he could actually eat other than ramen. On the plus side, Bakura had finally learned how to cook properly without bugging Ryou on how.

In fact...Naruto wanted to know more about his previous hikari. So Bakura told him unedited tales about his time as a backstabbing bastard of a yami. By the time he got to the point when he finally found out most of his dark ways were because he had been controlled by the god who once dwelled in his old village, Naruto was impressed.

While Naruto would never be as cruel or callous as the old Bakura, he could still be just as skilled. Hell, his lock picking skills now rivalled his own! And his stealth was almost at his level.

"Hey Nii-chan what happened to put you in such a good mood?"

"I got to beat up the Pharoah without his cheering section or his new hikari to help him. In fact...his own hikari clocked him with a chakra enhanced punch!"

Naruto crowed at the thought of the Pharoah getting punched by his own hikari. So Bakura introduced him to the new craze that had hit the village from the Outside called Duel Monsters. He took one look at the cards and snickered.

"Looks like I'll have to dust off my old deck."

"You can play Nii-san?" said Naruto excitedly.

"I can not only play, I can run rings around the stratigists in the village. If you do your ninja homework I'll teach you."

Naruto cheered, and his homework was finished faster than he had ever done it. Bakura double checked it, and then brought out his first deck. He proceeded to teach his little brother how to play, and by the first mock duel the kid was hooked.

* * *

Naruto soon became the one to beat at the academy, once Bakura helped him make his deck. The fox like boy had a simple yet surprisingly effective way to beat every opponent, particularly the smug Sasuke Uchiha.

And it all boiled down to two words. **_Kuriboh Demolition._** He would power up the small ball of brown fur, and then proceed to use it's ability to render any monster's attack useless. Many Nin walked away from a duel with Naruto cursing the seemingly innocent ball of fluff.

After Sasuke's twelfth defeat at the hands of Foxfire, Naruto grinned.

"Geez, you're worse than Seto Kaiba!"

Sasuke growled.

"You do know that guy is coming next week to review land for a branch office, don't you dobe?"

Naruto looked shocked.

"Seto Kaiba, the guy who would sleep with a blue eyes if he could, is coming here? Wait till Nii-san hears about this!" Naruto crowed.

Bakura was howling with laughter when he heard the news. It did not help that he had been assigned to Kaiba's protection and guide when he found out. Neither of them could wait to see the look of shock on the man's face when he saw Bakura again!

Bakura had heard rumors that Kaiba had gotten married with a girl from Egypt named Kisara. And that Yugi Muto, King of Games was coming along with him. Bakura rubbed his hands together in glee.

He accepted the mission, on the condition he knew exactly who was coming so he could prepare a proper welcome.

And tried not to level Konoha in his glee. Every single person who knew about the Items or was almost directly involved with them was coming. Apparently the whole thing was doubled as a vacation/reunion!

He enlisted the help of Naruto, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Sasuke, Shikamaru and Chouji for the welcoming committee. They had no idea why he asked them for help, only that he was going to pull one over on the group.


	2. Chapter 2

If one saw the banner Bakura had made for the Kaiba group the day before, they would wonder why he had all those weird pictures on it instead of normal words.

If they had been able to read Ancient Egyptian, they would have known he was up to something and warned the Hokage immediately. But alas, they couldn't read the heiroglyphs or known the meaning of the words on there.

**_"WELCOME RICH BOY, MIDGET, MUTT, SCHIZIOD, SEER, FRIENDSHIP CHEERLEADERS AND YANDOUSHI!"_**

When the group processed what the thing said, they were stunned. Who the hell had come up with that, and where did they learn how to paint heiroglyphs.

* * *

Naruto and Hinata walked up, wearing the odd get up Bakura gave them. They had the hoods up and were wondering why the group looked freaked out. Naruto spoke, and they gave each other an odd look.

"Bakura-nii wasn't kidding when he said Yugi Muto was barely taller than I am!"

The white haired one had wide eyes, and said, "Ano...did you just say Bakura? And why are you wearing those robes?"

Naruto shrugged.

"Bakura-nii said it would be funny. In fact...he's late!"

They got rid of the robes, since it was just for a shock. Underneath they had odd items around their necks which glittered.

Naruto was given a strange Ring with five points and the eye of Horus. Hinata had a choker like necklace with the same symbol. The group gaped.

Kiba walked up with an upside down pyramid, Shikamaru with a T shaped bauble with wings, Sasuke with an Ankh shaped key, Chouji with the scales, and last but not least, Shino came out tossing up a thing that looked far too much like an eye.

The academy students looked confused at the shocked faces of the group. Finally, the older tanned woman (Isis) asked "Where did you get those?"

Malik suddenly yelped, as someone had snuck up behind them, holding a camera. It was the voice that made them jump though.

"I gave them to the kids. They're not real though."

Ryou yelped.

"Bakura?"

"Yo," said Bakura, giving them a two fingered greeting. Ryou backed away nervously...until Bakura was glomped by the blond.

"Bakura-nii! You're late!"

"Bakura...nii?" Yugi looked confused and worried.

"I'm the kid's only family. And instructor in magic."

"While this is fascinating and annoying, where is the one that was assigned to be our guide?" drawled Kaiba.

Bakura's smirk sent shivers down the brunettes spine.

"You're looking at him. Leaf Chunin Bakura Uzamaki at your service."

Yugi choked.

"You mean you...?"

"I am a qualified shinobi on the payroll who happens to be a Chunin. And not bloody likely to return to torment you when I could go to the Sand village and assist the Pharoah's new hikari in beating the crap out of him."

Yugi had an odd look on his face, and Bakura explained.

"Yes, the Pharoah has been given a new hikari...only this time he has royally screwed up. His pining for the good ol' days was about to drive the poor kid insane. If you don't try to Shadow Game me, I'll even give you the kid's name. Agreed?"

Marik had one question, "If you're here and the Pharoah is here, then is...?"

"He's currently in a rogue nin who slaughter that kid's entire family except for him. I'm not too sure if it's because Marik was inside him or if he finally had it with his father's overbearing ways about him being a prodigy."

Sasuke's eyes widened. Itachi was possessed when he killed his family? What if it wasn't him that did it, but the spirit? Bakura saw his look, and said, "I will explain later Sasuke. Time to get these folks situated into the Inn."

The group, which consisted of four women and six men, immediately put their things away, since they would be staying for three weeks and then went to Bakura for explanations.

* * *

He took them and the academy students to a BBQ place, and the students all ordered up and began eating as soon as the meat arrived. Chouji was officially the cook.

Bakura sat down, and found Naruto right next to him, with Ryou on his other side.

_'A meeting of the hikari, eh?'_

"First off, how the hell did you end up here and in physical form?" asked Yugi.

"I asked that same question of Ra, the second I realized what happened. And you know what that cheeky god said? It's called reincarnation, you twit."

Bakura scowled. Naruto grinned and lightly punched him. Much to the shock of the group, Bakura gave the small blond a genuine warm smile. Ryou nearly fainted from shock. Bakura promptly turned the meat before it burned. Soon they were trying out the food, and found themselves enjoying it...despite the fact that they were in the company of the one who used to plague them.

Bakura explained how he got the new body, and the situation in the Leaf concerning his brother. When he brought up the former Pharoah, Yugi perked up...until he heard how miserable Atem had made the kid.

The fact that the gods had to give Bakura a body so he could tell the boy how to ditch him for a while just made him droop. Still, at least he knew where his old Yami was.

Yugi was surprised to learn that Naruto was training to become a shinobi like Bakura and he was currently the reigning Duelist champ of the Leaf village. Yugi grinned, and challenged the blond to a duel. Apparently the other cadets and patrons heard him, because soon there was a crowd surrounding them to watch.

Bakura actually said something about that, smirking the whole time.

"Most of the spectators want to see Naruto taken down a notch."

"Why?" asked Anzu.

"Because instead of pranking like he used to, he's been beating jonin and chunin left and right with his deck. You'd think they'd want the kid to keep dueling instead of painting the Hokage monument like we did last week."

Seeing their confusion, he jerked a gloved thumb to the mountain.

"Each face carved up there is a Hokage. The only one currently alive is the third. The fourth died sealing off my current rant buddy."

Malik choked off his laughter.

"Rant buddy?"

"Yup. We alternate every other time on who rants about who they despise. It'll be his turn next time...and I love the rather creative ways he has planned for those he really doesn't like."

Malik was snickering as Yugi was actually having to pull strategies he hadn't used in years to just keep Naruto from kicking his ass. Kaiba was thoroughly impressed with the small blond. Bakura had to add his own two cents when Yugi finally lost the first game since he claimed the title of King of Games from Yami.

"Hard to believe the loudest ninja in training could beat someone who's not only older but taller than him!"

Malik and Kaiba actually laughed outright.

Naruto looked sheepish as he beat Yugi. But when Bakura praised him, he cheered right up. Ryou was still floored at the idea of a kind Bakura. Still, he was invited to the apartment by the blond. He decided to ask Bakura how to get back to the Inn later.

* * *

Ryou smiled at the little chatterbox who called the voice from his nightmares brother. It seemed like Bakura had geniunely changed in order to protect a lonely child. He chatted with the boy, who actually expressed an interest in Tarot divination, which Bakura had mentioned off hand.

Since he had his deck, he showed Naruto the cards, and even did a reading.

What he found shocked the hell out of him.

His past read like a tragic tale. Hated and never loved. He was an orphan by birth.

His present read Love and hope. Bakura had changed the boy in more ways than one.

His future...read trials and uncertainty. The boy had a destiny in front of him, and whatever caused his parents to die would both help and hinder him in many ways.

His love...was entirely uncertain. He had feelings for one who had none for him, while another watched from the shadows, never speaking aloud their feelings.

Naruto was interested in learning how to use the cards, so Ryou decided to teach him. He was delighted to learn that the boy was a very quick learner. Aside from a few corrections, Naruto soon had the cards down. Ryou had a spare deck he was originally going to get rid of...because it had this odd habit of giving the reader more information than asked.

Instead, once he was sure Naruto had gotten the hang of the art, he decided to give it to the small boy. Who was delighted to get something from someone who knew his big brother before he met him.

Ryou had finally asked what Naruto's life had been like before the gods sent Bakura, and from what the fox had observed...he realized his old tormentor was trying to change.

Before Bakura would simply take over and shadow game anyone who remotely pissed him off. He never gave a damn about his hikari, even going so far as to allow serious harm to him. He would supress and even torment his lighter half with his friends...like the coma incident using the Monster World game. He was a bloodthirsty psychopath with no conscience or morals.

Now Bakura was kind, even going out of his way to watch over the blond child. He tried his best to insure Naruto was safe, even if he wasn't exactly happy. He asked permission when he was stuck inside Naruto before taking over, and never tried to use others that the boy cared about.

He was still a psychopath with questionable morals and conscience though.

Normally this would worry them, but then Bakura introduced his current girlfriend and they never brought it up again.

(Malik shuddered at the thought of a FEMALE Bakura who could summon HUGE snakes to eat people and had an obsession with Dango for some reason.)

Yes, you read that correctly. Bakura found out about Anko by accident, and when he observed the woman while still in spirit mode, he found they shared a lot of things in common. Blood, torture, sweets, ninja training, and a psychotic personality. Once he got his own body, he waited until Naruto went to sleep and went to a bar she frequented. He chatted her up, and once she realized he wasn't going to hold her old teacher against her or be freaked out by her love of messing with people, well...she became interested in him too.

He didn't hold Orochimaru against her, and she didn't give a damn if he was the Kyuubi container's brother. He even hit it off with Ibiki, and mentioned a few torture tricks he liked to pull...and was soon a part of the T & I department.

One night before leaving, he asked Anko out on a date (with Ibiki present and surprised) and the rest they say, is history.

Since he became Chunin, his main partner was Anko. She took charge during missions, and he took over for torture and interrogation. Ibiki was slightly miffed that the first new recruit in years and he was better at getting information out without once resorting to ninjutsu. The fact that Bakura had zero problems with torturing people for info was just a bonus.

Naruto had no problem with Anko, even if she did slightly creep him out at first. But once he saw her and his brother together, he realized she was just his female opposite...which is why she nearly choked when he finally started to call her Anko-nee-chan. Bakura tried and failed to hold back his laughter at the incredulous look on her face.

Still, the vacation for his old acquaintances did do something good. Ryou had been looking for a place to get away from all the bad memories, and the only two countries he was familiar with were out of the question. England was only now recovering from that Wizard war after Voldemort disappeared** (in case you are wondering, Ryou is a wizard trained at Hogwarts who finished his schooling the second Bakura left) and he had no intention of getting caught up in politics. Japan held too many memories...courtesy of Bakura.

But Konoha was perfect. Even if Bakura was here, his darker tendencies were channeled more constructively...and far from him. Here his former yami could exercise his love of bloodshed and torture...and he was encouraged to do it!

Kaiba was looking for someone to head his branch which would be constructed in the village, so Ryou brought it up when he was alone. Kaiba's eyebrows went up, but he didn't question it. Ryou would move here the minute the building was complete. Malik would be his second in command, partly to get away from his family, but mostly so he could deal with his darker half the minute he showed up again.

* * *

Two years had passed, and Naruto was about to finish the academy and go through the Genin exam. Bakura had prepared the blond for anything they could throw at him.

Naruto thought about how things had changed since Sasuke had finally given up on wanting to kill Itachi.

Now he wanted to strangle this Marik guy. Bakura had explained to the boy exactly what Marik's personality was like, and how it might have affected his brother.

"Marik...is a total nutcase. Even worse than me in some respects. The idiot once tried to control the gods for crying out loud! To make it worse, he was forcibly created through pain and sorrow, which made him highly unstable at the best of times."

"How would he affect Itachi?" asked Sasuke...who realized he said his brother's name without going into a rampage for once.

"You know that kid Malik? Marik is his dark half. Marik was a more dominant personality, and if Itachi wasn't aware he existed, he could have whispered into his mind to kill everyone. You were probably spared because Itachi still cared about you. Your family on the other hand...well let's just say they pushed him to hard. Marik may have just given Itachi the push he needed for the killing spree. I have no idea why he used that technique on you...unless Marik pushed him into it."

"And what reason would Itachi have for telling me to hate him and eventually kill him?" countered Sasuke.

"Remorse. It was his way of telling you to become stronger than him, proving your family wrong and atoning for what he did."

Sasuke tried to think that through calmly. He failed, "I can't let it go."

"Who the hell said you had to? My original village was destroyed to create seven cursed Items of power, with everyone who died melted into the gold. I sure as hell never let that go, and look at me now. Chunin in less than a year of being a Genin and pride of the T and I department."

He had a point.

"What happened to the Items?" he finally asked.

"The son of the one who killed off my village was reincarnated and finally gathered them all. He dueled with his present self, who won and the Items were finally destroyed."

At least now Sasuke had someone he could relate to...even if the dobe was his brother. Naruto got over the fact that Sasuke now joined him during training, and soon both were at the top of the class. Naruto for the practical and Sasuke for the grades. They made quite a tag team. Bakura had his own test to pass, which he did a week before the two took the Genin exam.

* * *

Bakura was now Jonin and put on the genin rouster. He made a list of Genin he wanted, Naruto and Sasuke being on top of the list. One thing that had been proven while he trained new T and I members was that he had absolutely no remorse for anyone. Naruto, Sasuke and Anko might get a little leeway, but other than that, he was strict.

He specifically requested Hinata, Naruto and Sasuke as his top choice. Close to that were Sasuke, Shino and Hinata, or Naruto, Shino and Kiba. He made it very clear if he got Sasuke he wanted no fangirls...or the bint might not survive his training.

What he got was Shino, Sasuke and Naruto...after a lot of arguing between the elders and the Hokage. Apparently they wanted Sasuke to be trained by Kakashi, the only person still in the Leaf with the Sharingan. Bakura finally came in and told the elders flat out that if and when Sasuke got the damn bloodline trait, he would take him to Kakashi to learn how to use it properly. But other than that, he would train the boys properly.

They finally allowed it...which was a good thing because Bakura was close to sending them to the Shadow Realm and damn all the consequences. (With the Hokage's current mood towards the elders and Danzo, he probably would have gotten away with it too.)

* * *

Naruto passed the exam with flying colors...and dropped jaws. Where the hell had he learned the shadow clone jutsu? Mizuki reluctantly gave him the headband, and he walked out with a very Bakura like smirk.

"Nii-san is a very good teacher."

Iruka shrugged, and since Bakura had reach Jonin rank two weeks before...it was plausible he taught the shadow clone jutsu since Naruto had zero luck with the regular.

(Either way, Mizuki was furious. The fox brat was supposed to fail, steal the scroll and take all the blame while he escaped!)

Naruto sat next to Sasuke, who nodded once. Bakura had mentioned that if they both passed he would take them out for ramen and ice cream.

Sasuke had no idea why he even got along with Bakura. The guy was sadistic like Anko, had a sweet tooth like Itachi...and could hold his liquor better than most ANBU. So why did he like Bakura enough to tolerate training with Naruto?

Which always brought him to the reason he tried to deny, no matter how true it was.

Bakura knew. He had gone down a similar road and come out at top in the end. Hell, he heard rumors that Ibiki Morino, head of the T & I was planning on making him head of the Department should anything happen to him.

But the main reason Sasuke actually liked the 5,000 year old spirit? Bakura had absolutely no pity for him after learning Itachi killed his clan and left him the lone survivor. Unlike the elders, who made his life seem like everything should be handed to the Uchiha on a golden platter.

He never realized how much he hated that until Bakura came around. He had earned his full respect.

* * *

The next week, they heard Mizuki broke into the Hokage tower and tried to steal a forbidden scroll. Bakura was the one to catch him and he had the pleasure of..._questioning_...the former Chunin. He came out pissed about something, and then sent his girlfriend at him.

Meanwhile, Naruto had convinced Sasuke to help him pull a prank on Iruka...who found he had far too many scrolls for his graduating teams.

"Team four is Yugi Muto, Jounouchi Wheeler, and Hiroto Honda, with Jonin sensei Seto Kaiba...what the hell?"

A few genin snickered because of the cursing.

"Team seven will be...Iruka Umino, Anko Mitarashi and Ibiki Morino, with instructor Jiraiya...okay who got into my desk?"

Several of the genin were cracking up by now.

Thirty scrolls later, including one that had the boys howling (it involved several curse words and insults) and Iruka finally found the real scrolls. Somehow he knew Naruto had done this.

"Team Seven is Naruto Uzamaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Shino Abarame, Instructor Bakura Uzamaki."

"Team Eight is Hinata Hyuuga, Sakura Haruno and Kiba Inuzuka, Instructor Kuranai Yuuhi."

"Team Ten is Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara and Chouji, Instructor Asuma Sarutobi."

Naruto was cheering, Sasuke was pleased...Hinata and Kiba were groaning in dismay. Why the hell did they get the fangirl with almost no skills other than being a pest?

Bakura met them an hour later, and took them to the roof. He did the same lame questionnaire for the boys, who at least learned a few new things about their new sensei.

"Names, favorite things, things you hate and dreams."

"Can you start off, Bakura-sensei?" Shino asked politely.

"I go by the name Bakura, mainly because it's the only part I ever remember. Uzamaki is for the gaki who is my little brother. (Here he nodded toward Naruto, who grinned like a loon.) My favorite things are torture, blood, sweets and annoying the dumbass elders. I hate friendship speeches, idiot fangirls and guys who are way too full of themselves because of rank. I plan to rule the world...or would if I didn't loathe paperwork and have a pyromaniac side burn it whenever it crosses my path."

Sasuke and Naruto snickered.

"Shino Abarame, I like bugs, peace and quiet, and reading. I hate loud noises, spiders and bright colors. (He pointedly looks at Naruto now. Naruto took the hint and switched the jacket over.) I plan to find rare bugs to add to the clan."

Bakura snorted, "I'd like to meet a shinobi who didn't hate spiders. Aside from Iruka, but according to him it's a family summon, so he just tolerates it. There's no excuse for spiders."

Naruto, Shino and Sasuke laugh.

"Naruto Uzamaki, I like ramen, my Nii-san and Nee-chan, the color orange and small animals. I hate people who refuse to look past stereotypes and immediately judge you because of something you have no control over. I plan to become Hokage one day!"

"When you do become Hokage, watch out for the monster that preys on them."

The Genin walked right into his joke, and said "What monster?"

"Paperwork. Every Hokage has to do MOUNDS of the stuff. Most days you can't even see the desk!"

They cracked up at that.

"Sasuke Uchiha. I like gardening, fire type jutsu and sweets. I loathe fangirls and pity. I plan to find out what caused my brother to go berserk and kill everyone."

"Now that we got the boring part out of the way...Meet me at training ground ten at one tomorrow. You will have to pass the secondary test to officially become genin."

Naruto, Sasuke and Shino all went with Bakura, who lead them to Ichiraku for a congratulations dinner. And ended the night with ice cream. Shino left early and went home while the other boys chatted for a while.

Naruto had to be carried home by Bakura, who didn't give a damn. He tucked the brat in, and fell sound asleep on the couch.

He woke up at noon, saw that Naruto had left him some food for breakfast, and left.

(Interesting fact among the T and I department? Bakura could get ANYONE to talk if they woke him up before noon. Something about him scared the poor sap he questioned shitless if he didn't get to sleep in. This included Ibiki, after a memorable incident when he had the spirit come in at six in the morning. Anko had it all on tape, and kept it for blackmail material.)

* * *

They boys were waiting patiently, Naruto passing time by practicing his tarot reading. Something he picked up as a hobby thanks to Ryou showing him. He was currently reading how Shino's luck would be the next time he went into the forest for new unusual bugs.

He ended up with more info than he asked for. Ryou had offhandedly warned about that, putting all blame on the deck.

"Your luck is high, but you should wait until next week to go hunting. Also, watch out for cats...with a ribbon on their right ear."

Bakura snickered. That clinched it...they were obviously going to pass if they had to watch out for the one feline he despised more than spiders.

"That would be the Daimyo's cat. I would feel sorry for the thing...but it is a beast from the foulest pit of hell sent to torment genin just starting out."

They turned to him, and he held out two bells.

"The secondary test starts in ten minutes. Your job is to either claim a bell or land a proper hit on me. If you don't...you get tied to a log. I will be using genjutsu at random. Your best bet is to come at me like I pranked you or pissed you off."

He put a clock on the middle log, and gave them a look. They all vanished in a blur. But not before Naruto snickered at the clock...he recognized that thing pretty quick, and had an idea what Bakura planned to do to it.

An hour and one kunai into the cursed alarm clock later...

Sasuke and Shino had landed a bell each, while Naruto had scored a right hook on his brother. Bakura knew it would bruise in the morning, and didn't care.

He grinned, and said "Pass. We begin the hell that is D rank missions tomorrow. I will not force you to chase that damn cat, but I will make you do the other boring missions."

* * *

Twelve boring ass D ranks later...

They were ready to seriously kill a certain cat. Bakura had warned them it was a beast from the deepest pit of hell, but they didn't know he was serious! At least after he gave them permission to terrorise the damn thing before they brought it in. _(Bakura- We can't kill the damn thing Naruto... (Naruto droops) But they said nothing about tormenting it mentally. Anything short of maiming I will...ignore. All three genin cheer, and the cat realized it was doomed.)_

At least he made the chores interesting. Weeding the garden usually involved him describing plants, and what they could be used for. He tested them on their memory once they were done. Painting was done after they learned how to tree climb, and with weighted feet. Walking the Inuzuka dogs involved a rather interesting game called ninja biscuit throw. Which involved the genin throwing dog biscuits like shuriken and cleaning up the mess the dogs made when they relieved themselves.

**(I actually do this, and call it Ninja Bread. Take a stale piece of bread, whole, and throw it outside into the yard like a frisbee. Loads of fun!)**

They were a very good team, unlike team eight. Bakura had seen Kuranai training Hinata and Kiba, with Haruno lagging behind. That girl was pulling the entire team down!

Bakura remembered the rumor about the Legendary Sucker being in a town nearby...and laid a subtle hint to Kuranai about contacting her.

* * *

It was during the genin switch (jonin instructors switched once a week for two days. It was Bakura's idea, and it seemed to be working) that Bakura heard the news.

"Wait, you mean the kids can take a C rank after ten D's?"

Asuma looked surprised.

"You didn't know?"

Bakura groaned, "The boys are going to kill me if they find out. We've done over twenty! And a third of them was catching that bloody cat!"

Kuranai looked at him, curious.

"How on earth did you find a way to improve your time catching that bloody feline anyway?"

Bakura gave her an evil grin.

"I told my Genin that anything short of death or maiming was allowed if they caught it. If that cat hadn't scratched the hell out of me the last time I had to catch it, I might have gone easier."

They stared at him. He stared right back.

"You're...actually serious about that."

"Yup. I normally respect cats, because of my old culture, but that damn thing is a fiend from the deepest pits of hell sent to torment Genin!"

They wisely dropped the subject...and then told the genin they could torment the cat if caught. Which lead to a new game in Konoha called "Torment the Daimyo's cat without maiming or killing it." Needless to say the requests to capture the thing plummeted.

* * *

**AN** Ryou left England a little before Voldemort went after the Potters. He had accidently heard the prophecy and decided it was best to leave before he was dragged into the war which would come. Currently Harry Potter is two years younger than Naruto in this story.**


	3. Chapter 3

Bakura was out of luck, as apparently Kiba had mentioned he and the others had taken a C rank the week before.

Three pairs of annoyed eyes glared at him...it was disturbing how much Naruto could give him one of his own dark looks. Finally he gave up, knowing he if tried to pacify them it would ruin his carefully cultivated 'BASTARD!' personality. So he looked them in the eye and told them the truth, which did the job for him. He sure as hell wasn't going to apologize.

"Look runts, how the hell was I supposed to know you were allowed C rank if you did ten D ranks? No one ever explained that to me, so if you want to blame someone, go after Iruka!"

_Attention successfully diverted._

Now they were scheduled their first C rank mission...though Bakura was sorely tempted to hit their client.

* * *

Tazuna was a drunk and a nuicance. And he seriously suspected he was holding something back. So he did the sensable thing, and had Naruto do a reading on the outcome of the mission.

He cursed so well the Genin picked up some new words.

"I knew that old man was hiding something! Show of hands, who wants to go anyway?"

All three raised their hands. They had done thirty boring ass D rank missions before they found out that they could take a C rank after just ten. They earned this damn mission!

Bakura waited patiently** (read: was looking at a new scroll he borrowed from the Hokage who apparently anticipated how Bakura would react to Tazuna and his attitude)** when the genin arrived. Naruto had packed sensibly after asking his brother (and Anko when he ran into her at the Dango stand) what they would reccomend for Wave country. Shino had packed with help from his father, who had given him some new bugs for his hive. Sasuke was up and ready before the dawn.

Bakura remembered how Shino reacted when he once asked why his sensei didn't find him disturbing like most shinobi found his clan. His answer surprised him, and earned his respect.

"I've seen far more disturbing things than a few bugs...(like big ass spiders)...and so long as you don't send them after me, who am I to judge?"

Shino's mouth quirked...Bakura would swear the kid was smirking at him now.

"So just to clarify, you have no problems with bugs...but spiders creep you out?"

Bakura mock shuddered... "Eight limbs and eyes are not natural."

Shino laughed, and went back to training.

* * *

(Actually, most of the Jonin in the exclusive lounge wondered how the hell Bakura got his charges to behave so damn well...particularly the Uchiha and Uzamaki, both of which were rivals. Several quietly suspected he threatened to use some of his favorite torture methods on them.)

* * *

Soon they were heading out, and Bakura turned to the boys, eyes serious.

"Remember, we are no longer in Konogakure. Within the first five miles are safe, relatively, and backup is usually five minutes away, three if they run like hell. But outside that is not so safe. Enemy Nin, bandits and certain wildlife can and may attempt to take your life. Be on guard at all times. Am I clear?"

"In other words, once we're out of the boundaries, keep a sharp look out for anything suspicious, and be prepared to guard the client," said Shino.

"Good."

When Tazuna hired the white haired one and the three boys, originally he assumed they were just kids. Hell, the instructor barely looked out of his twenties. But now...even the loud mouth blond was serious, scanning the area and making note of each sound and movement.

Naruto was the first to spot the puddles, and he hissed inaudibly, "Bakura-nii."

"I see it. Battle positions within ten seconds, or you'll suffer my special training."

Shino and Sasuke shuddered. The last time that happened, only Naruto had been spared, and that only because of his favorite monster exploding. They did NOT want to do a break neck run through the Shadow Realm again...no matter how much it improved their speed.

In less than five seconds, all three genin were back to back, guarding Tazuna flawlessly. Bakura had practically beaten this scenario in their heads. Naruto would attack first, once they were assured the client was safe with his other teammates.

The portal which haunted Sasuke and Shino's training nightmares brought forth Kuriboh.

"Multiply and defend!"

Suddenly there were a multitude of furry bodies, at a safe distance in case of explosion...which was set off courtesy of the first attacker. Kuriboh kept multiplying while they kept attacking.

Eventually one of the attackers was knocked back into a rock, and fell unconscious. Bakura poofed and knocked out the second with ease. Naruto looked smug.

"Well done boys. No special training for the week. Now...as for our attackers..."

* * *

They found out that the Demon Brothers of the Mist had been hired by a crime lord named Gato. It didn't take much for them to spill, once informed by a cheerful Naruto that his brother/sensei was high up in Konoha's now infamous T and I department. (Infamous since Bakura started to work there anyway. No one wanted to be on the wrong end of his techniques.)

Tazuna looked nervous, and from Bakura's vast experience, fully prepared to do an emotional guilt trip to keep them on the mission.

Bakura and the boys looked at him flatly.

"We did a reading before even considering leaving Konoha. As long as this doesn't turn into an A or S rank mission, we continue. But...you had best not be hiding anything else from us old man."

Tazuna gulped. Bakura could be downright piss in your kimono terrifying in a mood. Which is why the genin as a rule were quiet and respectful on the rare occasions his girlfriend got him to drink too much and he got a hangover. Ryou was their savior on that point, as apparently he knew how to brew what he called the hangover potion. He had a sixth sense (actually Bakura usually invited Malik with him and if he had one Bakura did too most time) whenever it happened, and Bakura usually lost his grumpiness within an hour or so.

Soon they were in Wave, after a brief explanation of surrounding countries by Bakura, and what the weather was like. Sasuke snorted, and pointedly asked how he knew that when he only went to Sand the one time.

"I listen Gaki. And most Jonin don't mind talking about previous missions so long as it's allowed. Besides, I asked around before we left."

Bakura was a steadfast believer of being prepared for the worst. Which is why he had drilled the scenario of him being incapacitated into his team weeks ago. Naruto was officially the offense, as his Kuriboh made it impossible to actually get close when they were on defense. Shino and Sasuke would defend the blond (and client if need be) until they could escape via the Shadow Realm, or until Bakura could take care of the assailant.

As soon as they landed, with Bakura walking calmly along with the boat just in case, Sasuke immediately started scanning the area.

About half an hour away from the house, Naruto suddenly threw a kunai. And they found a white rabbit, scared out of it's wits.

Bakura growled...but not at his brother.

"Defensive positions now!"

Without a second thought, they complied. A minute later a huge cleaver like sword came right at them, and they ducked, taking Tazuna with them. Bakura snarled...at the rogue nin which had appeared out of nowhere.

Naruto couldn't help but comment...and the other two were sure this was because of his brother's influence.

"Compensating for something are we?"

Bakura was still tense, but he snorted.

"Zabusa Momochi, rogue Chunin from Mist. Got kicked out after a failed attempt at the Mizukage. Also known as the Demon of the Bloody Mist, after killing an entire graduating class of candidates without being in the running. It was after the incident that the Mist village changed their exam for Genin."

Zabusa looked impressed.

"You've heard of me then?"

"I overheard rumors you were in the vicinity and memorized your data. Where's your shadow?"

The Rogue nin looked surprised, but hid it well.

He watched as the genin were clearly on the look out for the apprentice their sensei mentioned. Perfect defensive stance, covering all points precisely.

"And here I thought all Leaf Genin were worthless brats."

The raven haired one snorted and glared at their sensei.

"We have a sadist for a sensei. At least he makes the D ranks interesting."

One of his nonexistent eyebrows rose in question.

"You ever hear about the Fire Daimyo's cat?"

Seeing the recognition in the Mist nin's eyes, he wasn't aware that the cat was that well known.

"I started a new trend for when the Genin catch that damn thing. Thanks to me the requests have dropped."

"I still wish that we were allowed to kill the damn thing..." said Naruto loudly.

"Hey, at least I let you torment it so long as you leave no physical indications of the deed. Most Jonin never even thought to let their genin antagonize that damn cat!"

Zabusa decided he liked this guy. He'd heard rumors about how many times the Leaf nin were called to capture the infamous cat. Every village surrounding Konoha had. He never believed one would be evil enough to just torment it without leaving a trace.

Still, he had a job to do. So he brought out the mists, leaking killing intent. He was a bit surprised that the Genin didn't even react.

"What's this idiot trying to do?" said the blond loudly.

"I think he's trying to terrify us into breaking formation," answered the sunglasses kid.

The raven haired one was trying not to laugh. While the Jonin was swearing quite eloquently.

"I HATE MIST! Damn fog!"

Imagine his surprise when the Jonin not only found his actual body, but had a rather disturbing glint in his eye when he grabbed him by the throat.

"You're not the only one with the reputation of a demon," he growled. With those eyes, he didn't doubt it.

Suddenly he found himself with a rather annoyed Jonin who obviously had far more experience with mental and physical torture than him.

"You picked the wrong Shinobi to annoy. Here's a new name for your Bingo Book...Bakura Uzamaki."

Zabusa paled. This was the rumored master of torture, Bakura? He had no idea the guy was a Jonin with three snot nosed genin in tow! Why the hell was he here?

Soon they were going all out. Bakura was toying with the rogue nin, and the man knew it. In less than a year, this relative unknown had risen to the top of torture techniques, becoming an idol to those who loved the art.

His official code name in the Book was Shadow Interrogator Bakura. It was recommended not to get on his bad side...as he had this disturbing trick of crushing minds with a single phrase. Rumor had it that he had a younger brother who was blond...and now he knew it to be fact.

In short...he was screwed. On the plus side, his apprentice managed to save his ass with the senbon. Bakura wasn't inclined to chase after them right now.

* * *

Tazuna came in, and the genin briefly let down their guard for a second, then turned to Bakura.

"Zabusa will no doubt be recovering for the next week. And if he's smart, he'll leave the bridge builder alone. Tonight I will bring out the guards, so you can relax...for now."

"Hai, Sensei!"

They relaxed now, knowing Bakura would warn them if someone were about to attack.

"Hey Nii-chan, what did you say to spook that rogue so bad?"

Bakura smirked.

"According to Anko and Ibiki I have required a reputation among Interrogators. Judging by the look on that nin's face, it must have spread past Konoha."

Naruto snickered. Since they left before noon, Bakura told them one thing.

"The assignment I gave you three two days ago. Get on it."

* * *

Bakura had given them a difficult assignment. They had to find a Jonin level jutsu or taijutsu, and at either get it right or make a passable attempt at it. So far Shino had gotten halfway on one of his family's taijutsu, Sasuke was working out how much chakra was needed, and Naruto was almost ready to show it to his brother.

Bakura promised to help them find their personal Ka beast if they succeeded.

Meanwhile...

Bakura was on a branch, taking an hour long nap.

* * *

Next morning...

Naruto had mastered the jonin level jutsu his brother asked for. He knew better than to wake Bakura up before noon, and with good reason. Tazuna looked for his brother, and asked, "Where's your teacher?"

"Bakura-nii is still sleeping. No sane person wakes him up before noon unless they want him to...question them...using his best torture techniques."

"On the plus side, we wake up in time to do our grocery shopping and get the chores done before doing missions," said Shino.

"And properly wake up."

"Morning Shino, Sasuke. Any luck with the assignment?"

"I got the chakra amount done, I just need to test it. You Shino?"

"Almost done."

Tazuna looked at them, curious.

"Bakura gives us assignments, which we have to complete before a week is over. Those who don't get to go through his special training."

The other two shuddered.

"Usually means we have to run like bats out of hell, with full weights for an hour."

"That doesn't sound too bad."

"It's the place he makes us run that creeps us out. Only Naruto doesn't mind it."

Bakura came out at lunch, in a better mood.

"Nii-chan, me and Sasuke are ready to show you!"

"Oh? Outside then. Shino, how far are you?"

"Almost there sensei."

"Good. Let's see it then."

Naruto showed off his jutsu, which turned out to be a medic nin's more advanced technique. Healing broken bones. He managed to keep it up for a bit before his concentration slipped.

Sasuke had a more advanced version of a fire jutsu, which he used to create a large dragon made entirely of flame. He held it there for a good two minutes.

Shino managed to get a series of very complex patterns done without a single hitch.

He was impressed.

"Alright, Naruto, you need to work on your concentration, but that was a very good attempt. You pass for this week. Sasuke, you need to work on increasing your reserves, other than that you pass too. Shino, while it's incomplete, you did fulfill this week's assignment. No special training for two weeks."

The boys cheered.

"Now for the treat I promised if you did it correctly. Everyone, meditative positions. You know the drill by now."

All three boys sat with their backs against each other, going into a trance. Bakura had introduced them to Shadow magic after they caught Naruto summoning one morning. Ever since they had been interested in the art. So Bakura saved it as a reward if they did a weekly test. Personally they all believed the beast that represented Naruto would be Kuriboh or Foxfire...or something fluffy.

One by one they opened their eyes, and saw a card hovering in front of them. They reached out, grabbed it and broke their stance.

"Read them aloud, then we'll work on bringing them out."

Naruto went first, and he looked a tad confused.

_"Wynn the Wind Charmer."_

Bakura held back a laugh. The monster who best suited him was female!

Sasuke was next.

_"Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle."_

He was really trying not to laugh now. That monster looked like Espeon from that anime Naruto liked so much, called Poke'mon...only the fur was purple and it had a red jewel on it's tail.

_"Insect Queen."_

Bakura broke out laughing.

"A spellcaster, an insect and a fairy?"

Sasuke growled.

"Alright, time to bring them out. I want you to concentrate on your magic. Don't force it, let it manifest before you."

Each boy relaxed, and calmly found their magic. Naruto was the first to bring his out. A girl with loose brown robes, a dragon staff with a crystal, greenish hair and a petit dragon appeared. She smiled, and bowed before him.

Shino brought out his beast, which was larger than the rest. (If you've seen Battle City you know what this creature looks like already.)

Sasuke brought out a small cat like creature with purple fur, ruby red eyes and a jewel on it's tail. It had four different ears on it's head.

Naruto took one look at Sasuke's and said, "Dude, you got Espeon?"

"And you got a girl."

"Actually, if I remember right, that is only the first stage of Wynn. She gets older and more powerful. First stage is Wind Charmer, second is Familiar Possessed, and the third is Storming."

Bakura brought out three minor beasts, and turned to the boys.

"I want you to defeat these before dinner. You will do this every day until you can summon them within seconds. Full control is needed to beat these."

Naruto stood next to Wynn, who slightly blushed.

"Nice to meet ya Wynn-chan. Can't wait to work with you!"

Sasuke gave his a look, while Shino had a silent conversation with his. Soon they took attack position in front of the monsters, and used their magic to control their Ka. Bakura stood back, offering pointers when needed to Sasuke and Shino. Naruto had already destroyed his, and was now working on speed summoning.

Bakura didn't tolerate slackers, who took a break when they could be doing something useful. Which is why Sakura Haruno hated him with a passion.

Shino was next to destroy the monster, and joined Naruto. Sasuke beat his last, and Bakura clapped. He gave them the rest of the day off, which Naruto and Shino used to duel each other. Naruto was working on a new theme deck, and Shino was trying to oust Weevil Underwood as the best bug duelist.

He had no idea that most Shinobi duelist were actually better than said Insect user.

Since they had long since mastered the tree walking exercise and water walking trick, Bakura set them to controlling their Ka beast. Naruto, because of years of experience from summoning already, had the best control. Sasuke was next, with Shino closely behind. It seemed that since his beast was at a higher level than theirs, it was also harder to control.

* * *

Meanwhile, Naruto took to sleeping outside after training. Apparently he trained after the others had left for the day. Bakura admired his dedication to getting it right and quick at the same time. It was the only reason he met the boy (or was it girl) named Haku.

Originally the kid was looking for medicinal herbs, but Naruto had woken up from his sleep early and had been practicing with Wynn for an hour before he noticed Haku.

Haku watched with interest as the blond loudmouth practiced summoning a girl from nowhere and without using chakra from what he could tell. When the blond finally noticed him, he appeared amused.

Something apparently clicked between them as the blond said something that had him go cold.

"You that rogue nin's apprentice that Bakura mentioned?"

Seeing his reaction, the kid smiled.

"Don't worry. As long as Zabusa doesn't go after the bridge builder or annoy Aniki, he won't be killed. If you catch Aniki's interest, he might show you how to summon too!"

"Who is your brother?"

"Bakura. Anko-nee-chan is back home, probably torturing some poor drunken sod for making a pass at her and wondering when we will get back."

Haku couldn't help but pale at the name.

"Anko...as in Anko Mitarashi the snake summoner? Ibiki Morino's second in command?"

"Yup. She's not that bad once you get past her sadist ways...and ignore her snakes. Personally me and Sasuke have a bet on how long it will be before Bakura asks her to marry him."

Haku eventually left with a basket full of useful herbs, some of which Naruto helped him find. It surprised him that he didn't know some of the uses Naruto described, or that the boy was willing to help him. When he finally asked why he was helping the enemy, he got a snort in return.

"Aniki showed me a long time ago there's a difference between misguided and dangerous. Zabusa is misguided in his goal at taking out the bridge builder. In the end, Bakura wants to take him back to Konoha to train him in how to use his blade better."

Strange brothers...

* * *

Zabusa was back with Haku at his side this time. Shino had been told to keep an eye on the daughter and grandson, since his monster was still hard to control. Naruto and Sasuke were standing side by side prepared to fight.

Sasuke took out the clones and guarded Tazuna while Naruto went after Haku. His eyes glowed crimson as he defended the civilian.

Haku could feel something in him grow as he fought the blank eyed Naruto. The strange girl Naruto summoned was blocking every senbon he sent, even reversing their direction right back at him!

Something snapped, and a vague shadow appeared at his side. His eyes turned to face the shadow, which had both his attackers staring.

It was a girl with blue hair, sapphire colored eyes and the strangest clothes he had ever seen. She held a long cobalt blue staff with a crystal in the shape of a water drop inside a circle with odd blue leaves on the left half. Little rings were on the edge of the right half. A strange lizard creature with greenish blue skin and red eyes hovered at her shoulder. She wore a loose cream robe, light green shirt which was too big, and a short blue skirt. At her waist was a large tuft of blue fur. Water seemed to float around her in waves.

A strange card which he had seen vaguely in many villages hovered in front of him. He took it in confusion and read the words on the top out loud.

_"Eria the Water Charmer?"_

Naruto grinned, as Haku gasped in surprise. The girl fully materialized and bowed before him. Wynn looked thrilled to see the other female there.

"Seems I was right. You're a Shadow Summoner too!"

Haku turned to him in shock, his mask covering his face.

"Shadow Summoner?"

"Bakura says that's what they were called a long time ago. Eria-chan must be your Ka beast like Wynn is mine. You must have real talent to call her out without any training."

Suddenly he noticed Eria touching his ice mirrors, and they vanished into her. Her outfit changed, this time she wore an ice blue shirt with crystals along the hem, her skirt became sapphire colored and she immediately gained an ice necklace around her throat. The necklace had water droplets being held in constant stasis.

Naruto was interested in the change, and noticed Haku looked about ready to pass out. Suddenly Haku jolted, and tried to rush out to his master. Eria stopped him without thinking, shaking her head. Sensing the confusion from Haku, Naruto explained.

"I seriously doubt Bakura will kill your master without a really good reason. Eria just wants to protect you. That's basically what they're for, to protect and defend their masters. If you can summon others they can be used for an attack."

Suddenly the mist cleared, and showed Zabusa mostly unharmed...aside from his paralyzed arms. Bakura was holding what appeared to be lightning in his hand, which had taken out the nukenin without killing him.

Looking past them, he could see Sasuke still protecting the client and...was that a ship full of mercenaries?

A short man with untamed hair and black glasses approached them, followed by at least fifty mercenaries. He wore tailored clothes and had a cane in his right hand and was smirking in a way that did not inspire confidence.

Zabusa scowled as he said "You backstabbing bastard!"

Haku knew. Gato intended to kill them so he didn't have to pay for their services. White hot rage filled him.

Naruto whispered to Wynn, who in turn spoke silently to Eria.

"It seems you don't need to fight us anymore. How about we take care of the mercs while you and Zabusa recover? It's up to you if you want to join us," said Naruto.

He nodded and went to Zabusa, who was staring in surprise at the girl who followed him. Naruto stood next to Bakura and they faced the mercenaries.

"I don't think Gato deserves to live, do you big brother?"

"Not in the least. Pretend he's the daimyo's cat."

An unholy gleam entered Naruto's face as he put his arm on Wynn.

Wynn began to glow a violent blue, and grew at least a foot taller. Her dragon familiar began to circle her rapidly and rested on her shoulder, no longer cute and cuddly but a vicious dragon of wind. Her clothes whipped as the wind started to encircle her body and her outfit changed.

Before Wynn had a light cream robe over a white shirt and dark green skirt. Now she had a leaf green skirt, pale blue shirt and her robe was a chakra colored blue. Her dragon staff was held completely flat in her hands, and runes of power expanded around her lazily. Her light forest green eyes were blank as her dragon took control.

Bakura took one look at Wynn and was impressed.

"You managed to bring out her Familiar-Possessed form in less than a week of having her? This poor bastard won't stand a chance against her."

"Still unstable though."

Wynn began to create tornadoes out of nowhere, sending mercs flying and opening an uneven path straight to Gato. Bakura smirked, he never did show his little brother what his beast actually looked like.

"Come forth, Diabound Colonel!"

In less time than it took to blink, half the mercenaries were dead, and Gato had his head cut off by a blade made of wind. Inari (Tazuna's grandson who actually looked up to Bakura and Naruto) had arrived with the other villagers and Shino to run off the other mercenaries.

* * *

(Time skip two weeks later)

Tazuna had finished the bridge and even christened it the Great Naruto Bridge. Bakura had talked to Zabusa and Haku, who would be joining them on the trip back. Mostly so Haku could perfect his summoning technique and for Zabusa to learn how to wield smaller blades better.

At least Shino finally managed to perfect his control on the Insect Queen...though now she was a tad unstable in battle. Now his main assignment was to increase his reserves until Bakura told him otherwise.


	4. Chapter 4

Bakura walked into the Jounin area and grinned. Anko prompted tackled him as soon as she saw his distinct white hair. He had just taken a nap after making sure to inform the Hokage about their new residence in the Uchiha complex.

Sasuke was happy to let them use the previously empty rooms once he brought it up with Bakura and Naruto. Haku and Zabusa were officially under Bakura's watch until they passed the Chunin Exam for Haku, and the Jonin exam for Zabusa.

Meanwhile he had to wake up earlier so he could train the newer Shadow Summoners...which the Hokage allowed once Bakura demonstrated how the skill would in fact help with the ninja arts.

(Case in point, Naruto and Haku. Both had figured out what their element was after learning their Ka beast, which now helped them learn how to manipulate their element with and without chakra.)

Right now Bakura had a few students, and all of them were ninja.

Hinata, Kiba, Sasuke, Shino, Naruto, Haku, Anko, Kakashi and surprisingly enough Sakura and Ino.

Each of them had to at least be able to summon or know what their Ka looked like.

Hinata-_Hiita the Fire Charmer_

Kiba-_Lycanthrope _

Sasuke-_Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle _

Shino-_Insect Queen _

Naruto-_Wynn the Wind Charmer _

Haku-_Eria the Water Charmer _

Anko-_Serpent Night Dragon _

Kakashi-_Silver Fang_

Sakura-_White Magician Pikeru _

Ino-Ebon _Magician Curran_

Most of them had been able to summon their beast, with the exception of Kiba and Anko. But Bakura put that problem up to the fact that one was a ritual monster and the other was a high level one and Anko still wasn't used to summoning.

Still, he was determined to get them up to Naruto's level at least before the Chunin exams arrived...which was in two months.

So far only Sasuke, Hinata and Haku were even close to Naruto in summoning power. Kakashi, Sakura, Shino and Ino were still on bringing it out to fight while Anko and Kiba were still trying to learn how to bring theirs out. Anko was almost there, but Kiba was going to have the hardest time.

Naruto on the other hand, was currently learning how to control the second form of his beast, and afterwards he planned on bringing out the third form. So far he was having luck in control, but the third form was being a pain. It simply refused to come out.

Bakura was secretly proud of his students, and said as much to Ryou and Malik. He planned to move on to another topic once Kiba and Anko could summon theirs at least once.

Ryou was doubtful about that being a good idea, but Malik decided to help the dog boy as he called him (Kiba).

* * *

A month before the exams, and there had been major progress. Anko finally summoned her beast, which she loved. Kiba was starting to catch a glimpse of his, which meant it was close to coming out finally.

Which is why he moved the five with perfect control and summoning technique onto another aspect of Shadow Magic. Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, Haku and Kakashi now worked on tracking and finding lost objects...without the use of a Sennin Item, which was harder than it appeared.

Kakashi had an easier time of that, and soon found a trick which worked. Once he mentioned it, soon the others were having a better time with it.

He tied a thin string to a brand new kunai with no blood on it and concentrated on what he wanted to find or track.

Once Bakura saw what he was doing he remembered how his Ring once acted the same way. If that was the case, he knew just what to give those who passed this part of the test. He saved up all the money they earned after the mission in Wave and his later assignments in the T and I department to get them, but they were well worth the cost.

Bakura had ordered specially made daggers which were very reminscent of kunai in appearance. But they were made to channel magic instead of chakra. Each dagger was made of resilient metal (mostly the same type used to make ninja weapons) and silver. All along the edge was a series of runes which he got from Ryou. On the end which the wielder held was a long steel wire and a hoop which would hang from the wrist. It could be taken off with a small application of chakra.

Naruto was the first to master the trick of it, and so was the first to get the new dowsing blade. Kakashi was next, then Hinata, Sasuke and Haku. By the time they got the blades Kiba had finally figured out how to summon his beast and Anko was getting used to bringing out her own.

Sakura, Ino and Shino had perfected their control a week before the exams and would soon move on to dowsing.

* * *

Bakura stood with the other Jounin instructors and nominated his team proudly for the Chunin Exam. Iruka looked like he wanted to object, but after the way team 7 got on his case for not telling Bakura about the number of D ranks needed for a C rank to become available to them, he held his tongue.

Only because the lashing he got from three pissed off and cranky teens made him flinch. Some of the things Sasuke and Naruto described gave him nightmares after he learned from Anko that they were in fact possible to do...with the removal of a _lot_ of bones.

The Hokage approved, and Bakura handed the papers to the three the next time he saw them. All three immediately signed up and waited for the day, spending the entire week perfecting their current assignment with Shadow Magic. Even though Bakura had given them his word that no special training would be issued if they took the week off.

Apparently his methods of teaching had gotten them in the habit of training without his threat of a run in the Shadow Realm hanging over their heads.

On the plus side, each member of his team now had at least three Jounin level techinques at their disposal.

Naruto could use two different high level healing jutsu and one taijutsu he learned from Ibiki.

Sasuke could create a high level dragon of fire, use lightning in his hand and one minor healing jutsu.

Shino had two taijutsu and one family technique.

Naruto informed Bakura that Hinata had done the same as him and could use four Jounin level jutsu...and all of them were without her father's knowledge. She actually admitted to him that she couldn't wait to see the stunned expression on her bastard father's face when she revealed what she really spent her time doing.

Neji knew...he was the one who helped her get this far. In exchange for his help she promised to help him learn what his beast was and how to summon it...with Bakura's permission.

He was actually making better progress than Ino in that respect.

* * *

_Why wouldn't the spike haired bastard shut up?_ Kankuro thought tiredly.

Ever since that white haired Chunin from the Leaf showed Gaara how to bring out the spirit which had been pestering him since he was five, it refused to shut up. They didn't care if it was a bloody King! His yammering had almost gotten them killed ten times already!

The only good thing about the entire ordeal was that Gaara gave them full permission to eviscerate or maim the idiot. It didn't hurt that he figured out a way to make him stay in physical form for a week either.

Hence why Atem (formerly known as Yami) was now their official practice dummy for new jutsu meant to kill enemy Nin. It was a great source of stress relief.

Still, now that they were heading to Konoha, Gaara got his hands on one of the messenger birds to at least warn Bakura they were heading his way.

And got a message back via a fox like creature with a fire lit tail.

**(MESSAGE)**

**Thanks for the heads up, Chibi. Sasuke says he doesn't give a damn if you stay at his place, which has plenty of room for you and your siblings. If you want I'll see if I can get ahold of Yugi Muto. Maybe the gods will let him take back the damn pharoah...or he can help you shut the idiot up.**

**In order to find the place keep an eye out for a blond wearing an orange jumpsuit or a girl with a loose cream colored robe and staff. The blond is my brother Naruto, the girl his summon beast Wynn.**

**Either way you can stay with us.**

**Bakura Uzamaki.**

The minute Kankuro had seen the name he paled. Seeing his younger brother's look of question, Temari explained.

"Bakura Uzamaki, Konoha's best torture specialist. Ibiki Morino is best at interrogation, but Bakura is the reknowned expert at getting information without killing the subject. How the hell did you meet him?"

Gaara looked at them in surprise.

"He's the one who showed me how to bring out the guy we use as target practice."

* * *

Yugi couldn't believe it. Ryou had passed him a message which had him going back to the Elemental countries without an entourage. He was officially there to check on how well the offshoot of the Kaiba Corp was doing.

The real reason he was there was because Bakura said the Pharoah was coming to Konoha, and he needed his help to shut the spirit up.

So here he was going back to the Land of Fire. At least this time he would have a room...even if he was sharing with Bakura.

On the plus side, said evil thief had found a suitable outlet for his darker tendancies (which were actually encouraged) and was reasonably easier to get along with. Naruto acted like a buffer for his more homicidal tendancies.

Malik and Ryou shared a large house together, partly because they trusted one another...but mostly because they were an official item.

* * *

Yugi arrived in a large building...which looked nothing like the dingy apartment Ryou mentioned the brothers lived in. Naruto saw a bizarre hairstyle and yelped.

"Yugi! In here!"

Yugi politely walked in and held back a gasp of surprise.

The entire room was filled with Summoners and beasts.

Bakura looked a little too smug.

"Several nin showed an aptitude for Shadow Magic. They happened to be interested and I became a teacher. Old man Hokage suggested I try to become an academy teacher so I can teach a larger group."

Yugi was immedaitely introduced to each beast and Summoner. Apparently they had given their creatures names.

Naruto looked up, and held out his dagger for Yugi to see. Once Bakura explained what it did, it actually made sense.

He was trying to substitute the Sennin Items. His first trick was replacing his old Ring. Next would probably be the Eye or Scales. Right now Naruto was trying to find ancient souls. First it pointed to Bakura...but then it abruptly pointed to where they knew the front gate to the village was.

Seeing an oppurtunity to teach his students a new trick, he had a few of the less experienced follow Naruto and had the boy explain what he was doing and how. Yugi followed with interest.

It took less than fifteen minutes for Naruto to lead them to a group of Sand ninja who had just checked in.

Pale green eyes stared at sapphire blue. Naruto looked at the boy in front of him and said "You wouldn't happen to be Gaara by any chance?"

The red head seemed relieved, took one look at Yugi and scowled.

Bewildered, Yugi wondered why the boy looked so annoyed at his prescence. Then the kid made a clone and he realized why.

This was the poor kid who got stuck with Atem. The one who was almost driven insane. Atem took one look at Yugi and tried to tackle him.

Instead he ended up on his face in the dirt. Yugi had actually tripped him!

Because Yugi showed his annoyance that his old darker side had been causing problems for his hikari, Gaara quit glaring at him.

Still, Atem gave Yugi a shocked and hurt look, and Yugi surprised him even more when he said "If the rumor I heard was true you earned that. Honestly Atem, how could you treat your hikari like that?"

"But I missed you!" was Atem actually whining?

"Atem, you do know that the gods gave Bakura a real body first because he worked to help his hikari, don't you? And yet yours had to use a jutsu to give you physical form."

"He's our favorite guinea pig when we learn a new killing technique," Gaara informed him.

Yugi looked at his old yami in disappointment.

"I don't believe this. The Pharoah of shadows was beaten by the Thief King because he wouldn't accept the fact that he has to work."

"On the plus side, thanks to the fact he's around I can finally sleep at night. I just shove Shukaku on him and I can sleep."

Naruto grinned.

"So has the idiot even bothered to teach you how to use Shadow Magic at least?" asked Bakura who had caught up with them.

Seeing the confused expression, Bakura cursed...loudly.

"That's it. Grab your stuff and come with us. You have a lot of catching up to do."

Both of his older siblings came with him, more out of fear than anything. Bakura took one look at Kankuro and guessed which beast he had. Temari was fairly easy to guess as well.

Then he thought about Gaara, and how most people around him had their beast and wondered if the red head would end up with an elemental charmer.

Gaara ended up with Aussa the Earth Charmer. Temari got Harpie Pet Dragon and Kankuro they found had the Mysterious Puppeteer.

* * *

The day before the exams officially started, and Bakura was relieved that his newest students were finally on par with Sakura, who was the weakest summoner of the lot. He gave them his full permission to summon their Beast without supervision, once they demonstrated how easily they picked up the basics.

Something interesting happened the night before the exam though.

Yugi was about to fall asleep when he felt himself being pulled into the Shadow Realm. Before him were the three gods of Egypt. Ra, Slifer and Obelisk. He gave them a bow, and was only mildly surprised that they bowed back.

**'We come to you, Pharaoh of the Shadows and Light, to make a decision in concern to Atem. He has done more damage than good.'**

'What decision do you wish me to make, oh Lords of Egypt?'

**'We wish to know whether you will allow Atem to go onto the afterlife and pass on. Or should he be placed in your care until you reach the afterlife?'**

Yugi didn't think twice. As much as he missed Atem, his former Yami would never handle working for Kaiba without wanting to duel him on sight. And he had finally gotten over Atem being gone.

'Send him on to meet his friends and family on the other side. Why did you bring him back anyway?'

Ra looked a tad embarrassed.

**'It was supposed to be a final test for Bakura. To see if he would return to his old ways...'**

'Did he pass?'

**'He got a new body, didn't he? It seems the Pharaoh and Zorc were the problem before.'**

Ra became a pillar of flame, and Yugi watched once more as Atem left for the afterlife.

'What happens to Gaara now?'

**'The boy we left Atem with?'**

'Yeah, he and his siblings have been using him for target practice. And they've begun to summon their Ka beast thanks to Bakura.'

Slifer looked interested.

**'Well...the Priest has been complaining about dealing with his reincarnation for a while now. Perhaps he could take the Pharaoh's place?'**

'That would probably work. Kaiba hasn't been too happy listening to his ancient counterpart bitching about the Pharaoh lately.'

Slifer gave him a toothy grin.

**'So be it. If the Priest succeeds he gets to chose his own body, since it would be troublesome for there to be two Seto Kaiba around.'**

* * *

Bakura was in a mood. He felt the shift last night, and he wanted to know what the hell caused it. So when Gaara performed his morning clone to get rid of the Pharaoh, they were all in for a surprise.

The Pharaoh was gone. Instead was a darker version of Seto Kaiba. Bakura swore...so this was what happened last night!

Yugi yawned and said "Morning Priest."

The Kaiba look a like bowed slightly, saying "Yugi."

Bakura turned to Yugi, who was the only one who wasn't surprised.

"Ra sent Yami on to the afterlife and put Priest in his place. Said if he passed he got a new body like you."

"Another Kaiba?" asked Naruto.

"No, Slifer said they'd give him a new one to avoid confusion. All I know is that now I won't have to listen to Seto bitching about his ancient counterpart comparing him to the Pharaoh."

"I only did it so I could annoy him."

Bakura chuckled a bit about that.

"And if he fails?"

"I'll tell the gods to feed me to Amemit to avoid my dear cousin," said Priest.

"You have a name, or do we just call you Priest?" asked Kankuro, drinking his coffee.

"Best call him Shiro Ryu."

The Kaiba look alike gave him a look.

"It translates roughly into white dragon," Bakura explained.

"Ryushiro it is then," said Temari with finality.

Ryushiro shrugged...it was better than being called Priest all the time.

"Ryushiro knows about as much as I do in concerns to summoning, possibly more since he was trianed to use it."

Seeing the look in Shiro's eyes (his official nickname) Bakura gave him a grin.

"I've found several people capable of Shadow Summoning. If they show an interest I train them. Naruto here is my best student and little brother."

"What's your Ka beast?" asked Naruto with a fox grin.

"You can go outside to show them if you want," said Sasuke, pointing to the door.

Shiro saw no problem letting them see his beast. He was rather proud of it.

A large white dragon with stunning blue eyes roared as he summoned it.

He felt the subtle hum of shadow magic, and turned.

Standing behind him was a line of beasts standing next to their masters. At least six of them had humaniod beast, an almost sure sign of a spellcaster.

One boy had his beast sitting on his head, which made him chuckle quietly.

A knock on the door, and the boy with the cat like creature yelled "In the back!"

A woman with little to no modesty, a girl with long pink (pink, really?) hair, a third girl with long pale blond hair, a boy with a dog in his coat, and a third man with silver hair and one eye showing came in.

"Who's the new guy?" asked the man.

Bakura introduced them and everyone else.

Finally Shiro said "How far along are they?"

Apparently he was willing to teach them out of boredom.

Bakura grinned.

Naruto was the farthest along in terms of magic, but not ninja trianing. Which meant Bakura spent most days teaching him how to be a better thief.

Sasuke and Haku were still getting the hang of dowsing.

So Shiro offered to teach the ones who still needed work while Bakura focused on the more advanced applications.

* * *

They walked past the obvious trick to the third floor, completely ignoring Lee and the others. Bakura was waiting, with a grin.

"For those of you who passed the test on invisible summoning, you may find a pratical application during this exam. Don't let Ibiki fool you, while he is a hard ass he becomes a whiny bitch when he gets a hangover."

Naruto grinned at that information. He had met Ibiki Morino more than once...when he was hung over. And he _was_ whiny.

The funny thing was that only those with elemental charmers had mastered the invisible summoning.

Naruto took stock of the other genin. Most he dismissed as a nuisance, but a few stuck out.

Gaara and his team. A trio of Rain ninja which sent alarms going off in his head. Three with a musical note. A silver haired boy with glasses and untrustworthy aura. Everyone else fell under either danger or possible ally.

Bakura would be so proud!

Haku took advantage of his Water charmer to spy on the obvious chunin in front of him. Naruto, Hinata and Gaara were borrowing from his answers thanks to their monsters being able to communicate. It was a bit of a surprise when they found that bit out, but it made things ten times easier.

Especially since Naruto had mentioned off hand he was more of a hands on person, and written tests were his biggest weakness.

So now they had to wait for the final question.

One which Naruto passed without a second thought. While he was a bit more serious than he used to be, he was still the goofy fox boy who rushed headlong into things. Before Ibiki could say anything, the window was completely destroyed by a mysterious assailant...who turned out to be Anko.

Naruto had a very Bakura like grin on his face as once again Anko displayed her horrible sense of timing. Anko gave him a slight grin, then went all serious.

"Anko, your timing still sucks," said Naruto with a mild whine.

Anko stuck her tongue out in reply.

"Meet me tomorrow afternoon at area 44!"

* * *

Naruto went to Bakura, who was talking to Anko.

"How long are you sticking us Genin in the Forest of Death, Anko-nee?"

Anko turned to Naruto, then debated whether she should bother telling him.

"You really want to know or you just asking?"

"More like I'm mildly curious."

"Pretend you're being sent out of the village into the wilderness for a while then."

"Thanks for the tip."

Naruto promptly put a henge on and went weapon shopping. His order should be done by now.

The guy who owned the weapons shop only did a mild glare at him, probably because he was reading Icha Icha at the time, and not because of what he carried.

"You got my order, pops?"

The man put his book down and went into the back. He came out with a long package that was rounder at one end. Naruto bought a few extra shuriken, some larger weapons he would store in his pack and paid for his new staff.

Shiro took one look at his staff which shrank into a circle that hung around Naruto's neck when he applied chakra. He then offered to show Naruto how to hit people properly with it.

* * *

Naruto walked with his team to area 44. More commonly known as the Forest of Death...and Anko's favorite place to take Bakura on a date. (Bakura actually confided in Naruto he liked the place too...only because Anko helped him practice torture techniques on the more blood thirsty animals there. The Hokage didn't know what to think when he found out most of the largest predators in the Forest were now terrified of the white haired jounin.)

Naruto was fully prepared for at least a week. His food was in his special scroll that Bakura bought him for his birthday. His weapons were all within easy reach, except for a few of the larger shuriken. His new staff was around his neck like a pendant, hidden in plain sight.

To be fair, most wouldn't look twice at the odd amulet. Bakura helped him by doing a very good recreation of the top part of Wynn's staff, dragon and all. Naruto had him adjust it to become a full circle, and even added a few points which made the entire thing look reminscent of the Sennin Ring. The point would vanish and become the pole of the staff when he applied shadow magic to it.

Anko did annoy him when she made her usual sadistic move to scare the other genin. The hair on the back of his neck raised when the Rain ninja gave Anko her kunai back. He left, and Naruto hissed at her "He smells like you Anko-nee. He smells like snakes and death. Only it's stronger than yours!"

Anko kept her surprise hidden well, but would alert the Hokage the first chance she got. Naruto had the strongest nose outside the Inuzuka family, so if he smelled snakes...it was a good chance Orochimaru was back in the village.

Soon the genin went into the forest, and Anko went to the Hokage and reported what Naruto told her.

He immediately sent her and Bakura to patrol the outside of the forest. Bakura said if he found the freak he would give him a one way trip to the shadow realm.

A few ANBU found the bodies of the missing Rain genin, Bakura and Anko immediately went into the forest to find the boys and warn them.

Bakura had his dowsing blade out, and Anko was right behind him. She went looking for Orochimaru while Bakura spread the warning to his students, who would let the others know through their beasts.

He found them and a sight he never would have believed possible.

Naruto was drawing on the power of the Fox, Sasuke was freaking out and Shino was doing his best to help Sasuke. Suddenly Naruto was hit with a strange seal he had never seen before, and the Kyuubi's chakra was abrubtly cut off.

Sasuke snapped out of it, and narrowly avoided being bit by the Snake man. Shino called out his Insect Queen to distract Snake until Sasuke could call out something.

Naruto's eyes snapped open, and his staff appeared. His blue eyes were a glazed greenish blue, and a whirlwind was swirling around him.

Storming Wynn came out of the wind, and stood beside Naruto easily. Petit Dragon was in it's familiar form, and encircling his arm, boosting his natural wind mastery.

Sasuke brought out not Ruby Carbuncle, but another beast. Something from his deck, which was in his hand.

_Magician of Chaos._

Chaos destroyed the snake summon, while Shino prepared their defense so they could escape. Naruto was destracting the Sannin with Wynn, forcing him back. Finally he opened a portal to the Shadow Realm and they escaped to another place in the forest...right next to Hinata's team.

Bakura followed Orochimaru into the forest, and helped Anko deal a devestating blow to the man.

"Serpent Night Dragon! Attack!"

Anko had summoned her beast, and now had Orochimaru paying for the hell he put her through so many years ago.

Clearly he never expected his former student to find a jutsu even he couldn't pull off. Bakura grinned, and soon Orochimaru attempted to brand him like he did Anko.

"What the fuck Snake freak? I'm not into guys!"

Anko grinned at him, and they headed out of the forest to report what happened. She was weak kneed from using her magic in a proper shinobi battle for the first time, so Bakura did something that had the Sadist of the T and I department blush.

He carried her on his back.

Not that Anko would admit she blushed. She would deck the first person to say such a thing.


	5. Chapter 5

The Hokage was a bit upset when he heard the confirmation that Orochimaru was indeed in the village. On the other hand, he also had a geniune battle which validated his reasoning for Bakura's class. Bakura mentioned that several of the children in the Academy showed potential, and he would be willing to teach them.

Iruka still wasn't happy about that.

* * *

Naruto's team was still recovering from the encounter a day later. They had split up after helping Hinata's group get their scroll.

Naruto had crashed, unused to opening a shadow portal and had yet to wake up. Shino was still having trouble staying awake, and Sasuke was on look out. He was the only one still fully awake.

Shino and Sasuke had set up a series of traps invisible to most eyes.

The sound genin came, intent on killing Sasuke. Shino awoke to sounds of battle, and found Sasuke at the ends of his strength. He immediately summoned a monster he was still trying to control. A creature called the Great Moth.

Despite a real effort by the sound Ninja, the moth sent them packing. Now his main problem was getting it to behave.

Naruto woke up finally, took one look at the Moth and opened up a portal, which Shino promptly kicked it through.

Because Naruto packed for longer than a week, they had enough food. Sasuke still caught a few fish, mostly for something hot to eat.

* * *

Anko didn't know what to think of the crystal earrings Bakura gave her. Sure she knew most girls got jewelry by their boyfriends/husbands/lovers but she never expected him to. He was the most callous, uncaring, cruel and sadistic man she had ever met. He even beat Orochimaru in terms of sadism.

But...whenever he was with Naruto or her, he changed. It was small, hard to notice, but it was there. He lost a bit of his edge and his homicidal tendancies was curbed more. She even talked to his brother, or what everyone assumed was his younger brother, and he said his behaviour was highly unusual. Something about him not giving a damn about others before now.

Another thing bothered her...how did Bakura know exactly what to give her? And in her favorite color no less? Sure they had been dating for over a year, but when did he pick up on the little things?

* * *

Naruto helped Sasuke beat up the Water nin, while Shino kept his eyes on Kabuto. Naruto warned their stoic friend that he didn't trust him because of the aura he let off. And that was more than enough for Shino to keep half an eye on him.

Now they had to find the damn tower!

They entered the tower, listened politely to Iruka, and waited for the third test to begin. Instead they ran into Bakura who informed them that they had to lower the number of applicants down. Apparently more than they anticipated had passed, so they had to fight an opponent to take the third exam. Naruto groaned in horror.

"Nii-chan, there was a snake freak in the forest and he completely screwed up my chakra control!"

Bakura let Sasuke know which room he would be in. Then he took Naruto inside it...where a man with whiter hair than Bakura was standing there.

"Naruto, this is Jiraiya. He happens to be a seal master. Jiraiya, could you see if you can break the seal on him?"

Naruto did exactly what the weird toad guy told him, and felt immensely better when he removed the newer seal from his stomach. Then he went back to the arena while the two talked.

Jiraiya was both impressed and suspicious of the white haired jounin. Impressed because he rose through the ranks so quickly...and suspicious about his intentions towards Naruto.

"Old man, the only reason I happen to be here is because a trio of gods with nothing better to do sent me. And once I found out how bad the villagers treated my little brother, I had to do something."

"How bad was it?"

"They hated him. There were a few who didn't, mainly Iruka, Kakashi and the Hokage, but the civilians would have killed him if given the chance. Naruto only wanted to become a ninja because while they hated him, they at least didn't go out of their way to actively make his life hell."

Jiraiya seemed perturbed, and Bakura noticed it.

"I'm...Naruto's godfather. I knew his parents."

"Mind telling me who his father is? I want to have words with the bastard."

"He's dead. He died sealing the Kyuubi into his own son."

Bakura scowled.

"Yeah, I figured as much when the fox ranted about how he would like to have words with Naruto's father."

Jiraiya choked.

"You...spoke to the fox!"

"He's my favorite rant buddy."

Jiraiya agreed to train Naruto until it was time for the third half of the exam. Sasuke would go with Kakashi for Sharingan training, while Shino would train with his family.

Which left a very bored Bakura. No assignments, no missions and no brats to train. All his students were training for the last half of the exam or for the battle which would most likely come during.

Luckily for the Hokage (and the ANBU who had to clean up whenever Bakura was feeling particularly murderous and went on a minor killing spree) Anko was free for the month.

So Bakura did the one thing which always amused him. He asked Anko out on a date. Several times.

Bakura took Anko to her favorite dango shop and said "Dango's on me."

As they chatted, Bakura took one drink too many and kissed Anko. Surprised, but not in the mood to clock her boyfriend, she kissed him back. It was then that Bakura had a moment of clarity, despite being drunk off his ass.

He was deeply in love with Anko. They shared so many interests (torture, sadism, poison, dango, and they were ninja in the same department), plus they got along so well. Bakura knew when to back off and Anko always knew when she was about to go too far.

Once he figured out his true feelings, he decided to talk to Malik about what to do next. (More like he wanted to bum some cash off him to buy what he needed.)

* * *

"Oy, Malik. I need to borrow some cash off ya."

Such opening lines do not inspire confidence, particularly if the one saying them is a five thousand year old thief who had a tendancy to kill those who pissed him off.

'Then again...Bakura usually buys me drinks. Meh, maybe he'll tell me why he needs money this time.'

"Why, and how much do you need to borrow?" said Malik, honestly curious. He was taking a drink of the soda from the fridge when Bakura answered him. Ryou was in the kitchen cleaning up after lunch. He was only half paying attention when he heard his former yami reply.

"I need about 50,000 ryo for a ring."

A loud crash was heard from the kitchen at the same time Malik began choking on his drink.

"Come again?" said Malik, sputtering. His soda almost slipped from his hand before he realized he had a drink in it. Ryou fortunately stopped the fall before more got on the carpet, his eyes wide in complete shock.

Bakura patiently said "I need about 50,000 for a ring. Did I stutter?"

Ryou finally asked the question both were now wondering, "Gift or...?"

Bakura gave his former hikari an annoyed look, "Engagement."

Both boys fell over in a dead faint. He decided to speed up their recovery by going into the kitchen, ignoring the broken plates and grabbed a large mixing bowl. He filled it up to the brim with freezing cold water, walked back to the door and hit both boys with it. They came to sputtering and shivering.

Ryou stared at his yami in complete and utter shock. Never in his wildest imagining would he believe Bakura planned to get married. Even if the woman in question was practically his female double in almost every way. Malik took a good long look at his drinking buddy and said "Are you serious about this? No chance of you turning back?"

Bakura gave his coldest grin, "Took me till last night to realize I was actually in love with her. So yes, I am serious."

Ryou looked at Malik, and both boys came to a decision.

"We'll help pay, but on one condition."

Bakura looked at them shrewdly.

"What condition?"

"We help plan the wedding."

Bakura took a moment to fully realize what they had said. Since he honestly had no problem with male couples, (even if the more froufrou ones got on his nerves), he decided to accept their help. At least they had good taste.

* * *

Bakura had enlisted the help of Ryou and Malik to set up a date where he could ask Anko to marry him. the first thing on the menu was him cooking dinner, which she always loved because while she could find food in any forest or wilderness, she couldn't cook worth a damn. Bakura, on the other hand, was an excellent cook.

And right away, things went to hell. The stove wouldn't work, and Anko was coming over in ten minutes. So, in a desperate bid to make this work, he decided to improvise.

He was going to use a low level fire disk Sasuke showed him from his family scroll collection.

Anko would probably like the show as much as the food.

There was a knock at the door. Bakura opened it to reveal Anko dressed up for the date. She was grinning, wearing the earrings Bakura had gotten her a week ago.

"Am I late?"

"Not at all. Hope you don't mind eating off a campfire jutsu."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Stove decided to die on me."

She grinned.

Probably in protest for daring to allow Gai to cook on it two days ago.

Bakura didn t mind Gai's rather strange attitude. Just as long as he didn t do the Sunset of Youth thing in front of him. Last time that happened Gai was in the hospital for a week crying in a corner. Bakura and Anko had tried to correct some of his more disturbing training issues.

At least now Lee didn't wear that green monstrosity outside of training.

Bakura got to work while Anko chatted with him. He was making mac and cheese, something she hadn t had before. Once the noodles were tender enough, he put the cheese cubes, pepper, butter and milk in.

The fire disk Sasuke taught him was working just as well as his stove, if not better. That is, until some idiot genin startled him with an explosive light tag outside the window courtesy of a poorly thrown kunai.

Bakura cursed, then realized with horror that the idiot kid had caused him to burn the macaroni and cheese.

He stuck his head out to see who the idiot kid was that he planned to torture...er, train.

It wasn t a Konoha genin. It was some idiot from Iwa. The fool took one look at him and grinned evilly. The grin Bakura sent back at him made the kid realize how screwed he was now.

Since the dinner was definitely ruined, Bakura said "How would you like to spend the next hour torturing some schmuck from Iwa?"

"He the reason that you overpowered that jutsu?"

Bakura gave a grimace in return.

Anko's nose twitched at the smell of burnt cheese, noodles and sour milk.

Bakura heard a noise, and growled.

"Dammit, I wanted to kill him! Get back here Neko!" yelled Bakura.

"First come, first serve," retorted Cat, who's real name was Yugato.

"So what now?" asked Anko. She was hoping for his homecooking tonight.

"Dinner outside the dango stand?"

Her grin widened. The meat bun seller who worked across her favorite dango stand wasn t half bad.

Bakura chucked the ruined dish outside the window, to the fury of Kiba who was unlucky enough to pass by. Akamaru barked in thanks, and quickly ate the mess. Kiba would later spend the next six hours cleaning up the explosive diarrhea caused by the burnt milk.

* * *

Anko didn t mind the rough start of the date. Bakura was the most interesting man she knew, and he actually cared about her.

As they were heading towards the meat bun stand, they heard a commotion.

"What's going on?" asked Bakura.

"Food poisoning. Apparently the meat they bought for the food had eaten grass poisoned by a shinobi battle."

Bakura bit back a curse.

"Dango then?"

A loud crack was heard, and they turned to watch as the dango stand's chairs broke apart. Upon further inspection they found out that an Aburame child lost control of his newest insects...which happened to be termites.

_'Is this a sign that things aren t going to go well during our life?'_ thought Bakura.

He looked at Anko.

"Skip dinner?"

"Might as well. Somehow, I don t think we'll be able to eat tonight."

Their next stop was the biggest tourist spot in the village, next to the weapon shop.

It was a tea place.

Rats in the tea. Dear Set, is everything going to go wrong today? growled Bakura.

Anko looked highly amused.

"Why are you so upset? Did you have something special planned today or something?"

After the next stop, which was Ichiraku Ramen, (Naruto had helped the old man clear out the last of his ramen makings) so he could restock Bakura simply took them to the Forest of Death. Which was under guard, so they couldn t get in.

Finally, Bakura took her up to the Fourth's head. Thankfully there was a small cropping of trees on it, so he could bang his head against it. Every time he tried to be romantic, something went horribly wrong.

During his self inflicted head trauma, something fell out of his pocket.

Anko helpfully picked it up...only for the lid to fall open. Bakura finally stopped banging his head when he realized Anko was perfectly silent.

She was staring at the ring in absolute shock.

"Can't say I didn t try to propose in a nice place," he said quietly.

Anko was still in shock, but she finally managed to regain her composure enough to say "You do realize this is one of the best places to do that, right?"

Bakura looked at her.

"You can see the entire village, and the lights during the Chunin Exams are spectacular."

Bakura looked out. Now that he wasn t trying to inflict brain trauma anymore, he looked out and saw what she meant. The lights had always been bright when seen on the mountain, but now they were particularly colorful.

So Bakura did what he set out to do. He got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. Anko said yes, though she was still in shock.

Later, when she thought back to how hard Bakura tried to propose to her, she would laugh her ass off. Out of all her coworkers, only Ibiki wasn t shocked to hear that Bakura had finally asked her to marry him.


End file.
